Time and Time Again
by JetfireSkyfire
Summary: G1 AU where a couple of the members of the Autobots' three combiners are femmes instead of mechs.
1. We're Better Than the Others

_They weren't siblings, nor would they ever be. Sure, they shared a bond, but that didn't mean they had to be related._

When the Aerialbots onlined and transformed to root mode, they came face to face with Optimus, Hoist, Wheeljack, Ratchet, Blaster, and Ironhide.

The non-Aerials noticed that two of the fliers didn't have the traditional mech built, but femme frames.

One of the two was black and red with an orange faceplate and the other was red and white with a gray faceplate.

The blue and red mech, whom they learned was Optimus, spoke up, having failed to introduce the others that came with him, and then when he stopped, expected them to speak up, to which they did, one by one.

"Hi! I used to be a courier ship, but now I think I'm Silverbolt?" The grayish mech with red and yellow accents said in a questioning manner.

"And I'm Air Raid!" Stated the red and white mech next to him.

Next was the red and white femme next to him.

"Geez! What is this place? Who are you guys?"

"Who are you?" Optimus asked.

"Oh, right. I'm Firaflight," she told with a cutesy smile.

"I'm Skydive," the black and red femme told and moved out of the way so they could see the last one.

"I'm Slingshot. Used to be a speed shuttle. Now I'm the fastest, smartest, hottest jet you ever saw!" He exclaimed.

"Now let's get back to Earth," Optimus said before being stopped by Alpha Trion, having taken over Vector Sigma for the time being.

He told them that the key that Megatron has could doom the planet.

The Autobots had been unaware that the Decepticon guardian of Cybertron, Shockwave, had been listening to their entire conversation and knew of the Aerialbots.

Once the Autobots left, he informed Megatron of what happened.

* * *

When they were on Earth, Optimus said, "Welcome to your new home."

However, before anything else could be said, Omega spoke up saying they should evacuate because he was going to explode.

"Do as he says!" Optimus exclaimed.

The Aerialbots were the first ones to leave the rocket.

As soon as the last mech entered the Ark, Omega exploded.

* * *

As Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Sparkplug worked to rebuild Omega, before the Aerialbots joined them, the five fliers had been in the rec. room.

It was empty, save for the team.

Skydive noted a set of blue optics belonging to Air Raid staring at her.

"What's up with you?" She asked.

Air Raid immediately looked down.

"Nothing, it's just that..."

Is he seriously being shy and timid right now?

He was all cocky and loud earlier when they were fighting the Centurions.

"I think you're really beautiful," he muttered under his breath.

Her helm turned to look at him, barely seeing his faceplate and the blush.

"What was that?" She asked, having not heard what was said.

The others hadn't heard either and were generally curious as to what he had to say.

Looking up at the black and red femme, Air Raid said in a louder voice, "I said I think you're really beautiful. Happy now?"

He then turned away and crossed his arms over his chestplate, huffing and blushing more.

That made Skydive's optics widen and a blush spread across her cheek plates.

She then latched herself to the impulsive mech and smiled brightly.

"Thank you, Air Raid!"

The red and white mech sputtered a bit and looked at the femme, earning short laughter from Slingshot and Firaflight.

Silverbolt just smiled at the scene that had played out in front of him.

* * *

Later on, after having beat Menasor and gotten rid of the key to Vector Sigma (and finding out that Silverbolt is afraid of heights), the Aerialbots were able to go and meet the other members of the Autobot team on the Ark.

As Firaflight made her way to the main deck, she noticed that there were multiple sets of optics on her.

It was almost as if they hadn't seen a femme before. One mech stopped her in her tracks.

She looked up at him.

"What's a pretty little thing like you doing in a place like this?" He asked.

Firaflight noticed that the coloration of his armor is mostly white with hints of blue and red, mostly the latter.

"Who're you?" She asked.

In the time she's been here (which was what, a month maybe?), not once had she seen him or his frame type.

"My name's Skyfire," he said. "What's yours?"

"Firaflight," she told.

"Well Firaflight, it's nice to meet you," Skyfire said with a smile.

A smile crossed Firaflight's faceplate and she nodded.

"Likewise Skyfire."

"Are you new here?" He couldn't help but ask.

At that, Firaflight nodded.

"Yeah, the rest of my team and I were created around a month ago," she informed.

"Were you now?"

Another nod from the aerial femme.

"If you want, I can introduce you to them," Firaflight suggested.

Now it's Skyfire's turn to smile.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

Smiling more, Firaflight got a hold of Skyfire's servo and dragged him to the rec. room where the other four are.

Once she spotted four sets of wings at one of the tables, she dragged Skyfire over to them.

"Hi guys!" She greeted.

Four sets of optics look at her, one hidden by an orange visor Skyfire noted, along with another femme.

"Hey Firaflight," the grayish flier greeted.

"Who's your friend?" The other femme asked, referring to the shuttle.

Skyfire looked at her to see she's holding the servo of the red and white mech sitting next to her.

"Skyfire," Firaflight said before he could even get to it.

"Yeah, that's my name," he said.

"What are all yours?"

"Silverbolt," the grayish mech started, "And I'm the leader of the Aerialbots."

"Skydive," said the femme.

"Air Raid," said the mech of which his servo Skydive is holding.

"Slingshot," the visored mech finished.

"What do you transform into?" Skydive couldn't help but ask.

"A shuttle," Skyfire informed.

"So I can be used for interstellar travel."

"Like Omega Supreme," Firaflight pointed out.

A soft chuckle escaped the taller mech.

"Yeah, I suppose so."

* * *

Slingshot approached the bigger flier.

"Silverbolt..."

Said aerial looked at the visored flier.

"What is it Slingshot?" He asked.

The small flier seemed to have trouble saying what he wanted.

Silverbolt was patient enough to wait for him to find his voice.

"Would you mind if I called you big brother?" Slingshot finally managed to ask.

A soft smile crossed Silverbolt's faceplate.

"Of course not. Go right ahead."

That made Slingshot smile.

"Thanks big brother," he said and hugged Silverbolt.

Smiling more, Silverbolt hugged back.

"Anything for you, little brother."


	2. News

"Jumpin' jetstreams!" Slingshot exclaimed after the Aerialbots saw the Stunticons transform into Menasor. "Aerialbots! Show 'em what you got!" Optimus called to the team of fliers. Before any of them knew what they were doing, the five found themselves transforming and combining. "No! It can't be!" Megatron exclaimed. "Surprise, Megatron! Meet Superion!" Optimus countered. This was a new experience for the Aerialbots and gave Silverbolt the chance to know what they're feeling and thinking. One of the first things he noticed was the fact that in the back of his processor, Air Raid was thinking of Skydive. "Menasor crush! Destroy!" The Decepticon combiner exclaimed. "Talk is cheap!" Superion said. And with that, the two started fighting.

* * *

"If it's all the same to you, I think I'll walk," Silverbolt said when asked if he was going to join his teammates in flying back to base. The battle had been won by the Autobots and Silverbolt had destroyed the key to Vector Sigma. While in the air, the fliers four decided on talking because flying in silence would've been boring. "Can you believe Silverbolt went and did that?" Firaflight asked. "I know," Air Raid jumped in. "Who knew he had it in him?" Skydive seemed to pick up Air Raid flying close to her, though she didn't really think much of it. "And to think he's afraid of heights," Slingshot stated. "He did come through when we needed him," Skydive said.

* * *

The first ones back at base were the fliers four. While Slingshot and Firaflight went off to do their own thing, Air Raid got a hold of Skydive's arm and said, "Skydive, wait!," before she could leave. Bright blue optics look at the mech in surprise. "What's up, Air Raid?" She asked. Was he... was he blushing? Arms soon found their way around her frame and a helm rested on her shoulderplating. At first, the femme was too surprised to do anything, but she soon started placing her arms around the red and white mech.

As she was doing so, she heard him faintly say, "I like spending time with you." That made her pause for a moment. Really? Her? Not Slingshot or Firaflight? She hugged him tightly and refused to let go. Internally, Air Raid was screaming because the bot he's in love with was hugging him. "If you wanna start by taking things slow, then we can do so," Skydive muttered. Now it's Air Raid's turn to hug tightly. "Yeah. I'd like that," he said.

* * *

When the others arrived at base, Silverbolt immediately went to find his teammates. Where he found them? Rec. room. One of the things he noticed when he approached them was that Air Raid and Skydive were holding each other's servos, their digits intertwined. "Hi guys," the larger flier said. Multiple sets of optics look up at him. "Hey 'Bolt!" Firaflight exclaimed with a bright smile. Silverbolt placed a servo on her helm to show he'd heard her, earning a pleased sound from the femme.

"What's going on with you two?" The Aerial commander asked Air Raid and Skydive. "We're taking things slow," Skydive said. A slight smile crossed Silverbolt's faceplate and he looked at the red and white mech. "So, you told her you liked her, huh?"

At mention of that, Air Raid soon became flustered. And he's blushing. Both Skydive and Firaflight looked at him while Slingshot tried not to laugh at seeing his reaction. "I mean, I said I like spending time with her..." There was a pause as Air Raid looked at his commander. "How did you know?" Upon hearing that, Skydive smiled and hugged his arm. "I could tell when we were combined. She was in the back of your processor," Silverbolt informed. "Aww," Firaflight cooed. "You two are cute together!"

* * *

Sometime after initially meeting Skyfire, Firaflight found herself on the way back to Cybertron with the rest of her team, as well as Optimus, Ratchet, Ironhide, and Wheeljack. And what was with them saying that they shouldn't look up to the Decepticons? Even Silverbolt was saying that. Silverbolt of all mechs. She didn't seem to realize she was distracted by her thoughts until Slingshot sent her a comm.

 _::Hey, Cybertron to the red jet about to crash.::_ Huh? Seems she just now noticed the building and just narrowly missed crashing into it. "You need to pay attention to your surroundings," Skydive said when she rejoined her fellow fliers. "I know, I know. I'm sorry," Firaflight apologized.

The conversation soon shifted to the Autobots and Cybertron before being attacked by Starscream, Thundercracker, And Skywarp. Before anything could be done, Slingshot transformed and landed on the ground, the others minus Silverbolt following suit.

"Wait! We just want to talk for a minute!"

They hadn't heard what was being said between the trine, but the three transformed and landed nearby. "Okay _buddies_ , we'll talk. What do you want to know?" Starscream asked as they approached the fliers four. "I want to know why Optimus Prime thinks you're evil," Slingshot said. "That old rust bucket doesn't know a thing about Decepticons. Stick with me. I'll teach you some things about the Decepticons, all right," Starscream lied, though the fliers four didn't pick up on it and followed the seekers.

"I don't believe this!" Silverbolt exclaimed when he saw what went down. The Aerialbot commander reported to Optimus before going after his teammates. He hadn't heard Ironhide's comment of them trying to switch sides.

* * *

The seeker trine brought the fliers four to an abandoned building that appears to have its roof blown off. Silverbolt transformed to root mode and ran after them. He overheard Starscream saying, "Why don't you have a seat over there and I'll tell you all about it?" "No guys!" The Concorde exclaimed, resulting in the others looking at him in surprise. Well, minus the seekers of course. "Don't you see it's some kind of trap?!" He asked as he joined his team.

Before anything could be done, the combiner team found themselves being taken to the past. Once there, they looked around in awe. "Sure looks different than the Cybertron we were just on," Firaflight pointed out. "Because we're in Cybertron's past," Skydive stated. When the sound of receding pedefalls reached their audials, the fliers four looked to see Silverbolt walking away.

"Where are you going big brother?" Slingshot asked before trailing after the larger flier. The other three gave each other confused looks before following the two. "Going to try and find a way to get back to our time," Silverbolt said. Blue optics looked over shoulderplating. "You know, sometimes I wish you guys would just listen to me. I'm disappointed in you." And with that, Silverbolt looked forward again.

Slingshot paused at what was said and for a moment there, Firaflight could've sworn she saw hurt spread across his features when she looked at him. Knowing he would refuse, she left him alone and didn't ask if he was alright.

* * *

"The Decepticons. Boy, this'd be a great time to get to know 'em!" Slingshot exclaimed. "You've just got to learn things the hard way, _don'tcha_?" Silverbolt asked and walked away from his adoptive brother. Slingshot looked at Silverbolt's back and once again, there was the hurt on his faceplate that no bot noticed this time. They'd met Orion, his girlfriend Ariel (of which Air Raid happily admitted that Skydive was his after Orion said Ariel was his), and his best friend Dion. They also saw Megatron flying overhead. Air Raid smiled brightly and placed an arm around the black and red femme. A smile crossed Skydive's faceplate and she leaned against him.

For whatever reason, the team of five had left the energy docks. Exploring, maybe? Soon enough, Silverbolt realized what was going on and said, "Guy, come on! We have to get back to the energy docks!" The other Aerialbots looked at him in confusion before taking off after him when he started running. When they got to the building at the energy docks, they saw Orion, Ariel, and Dion laying on the ground unmoving.

"No!" Silverbolt exclaimed as he found himself at the red and blue mech's side, holding him and having a servo on his helm. "Orion! Orion, speak to me! Speak to me!" He didn't, however, and instead his helm turned away from the gestalt leader. Blue optics looked at the other fliers. "We need to find someone to help him." While Silverbolt got a hold of Orion's legs, Slingshot wrapped his arms under Orion's. Once they had him off the ground, they walked out of the building to find somebot to help.

* * *

They'd managed to find someone to help, but didn't seem to realize it's Alpha Trion. They had convinced him to repair Orion and told him of Ariel needing repairs as well. One at a time, he'd said. With nothing else to do at the moment, the five fliers sat outside Alpha Trion's workshop and waited for him to finish. Slingshot and Silverbolt sat near each other, the other three nearby. The three played a game to pass the time.

"How much longer are we gonna have to wait?" Firaflight asked after what seemed like forever. "Just cool out, he'll tell us when he's done," Silverbolt said. The door to the workshop opened and there stood Alpha Trion. All five jets stood up and looked at him.

"Well, it's finished. You may not recognize him. He is no longer Orion Pax. He is the first of our new defenders... Optimus Prime." Upon revealing who he is, five sets of optics widen. They knew him! _Holy slag they knew him!_

"I was wrong, my friends. I admired Megatron merely because he was powerful. I failed to see how he used that power," Optimus said. "Haha, it's ok," Slingshot said with a smile. "We've all made the same mistake."

The newly rebuilt mech led the others to the battlefield after confirmation that Ariel would be rebuilt, though the fliers left at a certain point to go do something else.

* * *

They were at the energy docks. They'd seen the cargo transports Megatron had and were planning on how to get rid of them.

"Oh! I know!" Skydive exclaimed. "Charges! We can blow them up!" "Good idea, Skydive," Silverbolt said before the Aerialbots went and found charges. Air Raid smiled at the femme. "You know, you're pretty smart," he told her. Skydive shrugged a bit. "Meh."

And there's the moment of hurt. "Wow, that was harsh. I think that's the first time you've turned down a compliment," Air Raid said. She looked at her lover. "Sorry, I just don't see how I could be smart," she admitted.

"This is the last of them," Silverbolt was saying. "Wait until they're all inside, then blow it up."

Skydive then hurried to the larger mech and pointed towards the door to show warriors. "Wait! Look! The warriors are blocking all the doors!" She exclaimed. "There's no way we can get out before the fuel stockpiles explode!" "We can't let the Decepticons win!" Silverbolt said. "Yeah, if they win this battle, they win the future, too," Slingshot stated.

"Do it Slingshot!" Silverbolt shouted. Aiming for one of the charges, Slingshot fired. It caused a chain reaction of explosions that blew up the fuel. Luckily, the fliers were pulled back to their time before they were caught in it.

* * *

When they landed in the present, the four that had come with them were fighting Megatron and the seeker trine, as well as a decapitated Guardian Robot. After pushing the giant back, Silverbolt shouted, "Aerialbots! Transform into Superion!" And then the five transformed and combined, taking on the Guardian Robot almost immediately and managing to destroy it after chucking it into the air and having it crash onto the ground.

* * *

After everything was done and they were back on Earth, Firaflight took it upon herself to approach Silverbolt.

She knocked on the door to his room. "Come in," the voice on the other side said. The femme entered the room and found Silverbolt sitting at his desk.

"Oh, Firaflight," Silverbolt said when he saw her. "What brings you here?" "I wanted to talk to you about something you said earlier," she said. When he didn't say anything, she continued. "When you said you were disappointed in us, I noticed Slingshot in particular stop in his tracks and he looked hurt."

That seemed to have caught the Aerial off guard. Why would...

"It's just that before you all realized the threat of the Decepticons, you didn't seem to want to listen to me," Silverbolt countered. "Him more than the rest."

"But that's the thing," Firaflight continued. "I think Slingshot looks up to you and just wants your attention. The fact that you have been directing it elsewhere and then said that really upset him. He just doesn't want to admit it, right Slingshot?" She smiled and looked at the mech that had been standing close to the door.

Said mech froze like a deer in headlights, moreso when Silverbolt looked at him in surprise. How had she known that he wanted his brother's attention? Or that he was even there? A sigh escaped the visored aerial and he approached the two.

"Yeah," he said meekly, directing his gaze elsewhere and his lower lip component sticking out in a pout. Underneath the visor, coolant pricked the corners of his optics. "She's right."

 _Awww_ , Silverbolt internally cooed at the reaction. Getting up, the large flier walked around his desk to stand in front of Slingshot. An orange faceplate looked up at him, that same sad pout still there.

Silverbolt got to Slingshot's level and wrapped his arms around the smaller mech. Orange optics widen and coolant fell from them. Sure enough, arms wrapped around Silverbolt and Slingshot cried softly.

Neither seemed to notice Firaflight leave.

"I'm sorry, Slings," Silverbolt murmured. "Didn't mean to hurt you. I'll do better, I promise." Upon hearing that, Slingshot couldn't help but cry harder and hold tighter. Now Slingshot's been picked up and carried to Silverbolt's berth to cuddle and maybe recharge if it got to the point.


	3. Protectors of Humans

_Their home would've been destroyed had it not been for them. Unfortunately, the result almost cost them their lives until two bots showed up and saved them, ultimately wiping their memories and giving them a new start._

A team of five. Two femmes, three mechs. Overall, three had similar frame colors, one had a different color instead of one the three had, and the last one was different in general. They'd been proudly known as the protectors of Archon for they'd done whatever it is they can to protect their home time and time again. Their names had gone unknown by those outside their group as well as some of their friends.

* * *

"You're leaving?" Firaflight asked when she saw that Ratchet and Wheeljack had been packing their things. Two sets of optics look at the flier femme. "It'll only be for a short while, 'Flight," Wheeljack was saying. "Yeah, we'll be back before you know it," Ratchet added. "We're just going to see what we can do and help out where we can." "Can the rest of us at least see you two off?" Firaflight asked. "If you mean you and the rest of the Aerialbots, then sure," Wheeljack said, the corners of his optics crinkling in an unseen smile. That made Firaflight smile a bit.

* * *

When the medic and the engineer made it to Archon, what they saw as they left the ship left them speechless. Everything was in ruins and there were injured bots everywhere. As Ratchet approached one of the bots on the ground, he found himself asking, "What happened?" "We were attacked," the bot said as she tried to sit up. "We were lucky enough to survive thanks to them." Blue optics look to where she was pointing to see five bots lying close to each other, energon on their frames and surrounding them. Almost immediately, Ratchet scrambled over to the five and looked them over before looking at Wheeljack. "Wheeljack, get over here and give me a hand!"

The engineer paused what he was doing and made his way to the medic. "They're barely online, help me get them somewhere safer," the medic ordered. Nodding, Wheeljack placed his servos under the first bot's arms as Ratchet got a hold of the bot's legs. The two bots carried the larger mech to where Ratchet could start repairs. "I'll go get the others," Wheeljack said before leaving Ratchet to do his thing.

Approaching the four bots, the engineer noticed that two of them are femmes and that one of them is a flier. Picking up the flier femme, Wheeljack made his way back to Ratchet and set her not far away from where the medic was. His second time out, it was the smaller of the two mechs, the one with the orange instead of red. Orange optics faintly lit and look up at Wheeljack. A soft groan escaped the injured mech. "Don't say anything, I'm taking you to somebot who can repair you." Faintly nodding, the mech fell into unconsciousness, helm resting against the other. After placing him next to the flier femme, Wheeljack went back for the other femme and placed her with the other two before going for the last one. This one appeared to be a medic. He was placed with the others and Wheeljack soon got to helping with repairs.

"They're too badly damaged, we're going to have to start from scratch and wipe their memories," Ratchet said. Wheeljack nodded and the two began their work.

* * *

By the time the duo finished, the five bots looked entirely different than what they had before and they were offline. "Ok, let's boot them up," Ratchet said. The first one was the blue and black one that Wheeljack took care of. Red optics online shortly and the mech sat up. Both Wheeljack and Ratchet smile at seeing that he's functional. "Hi there," Wheeljack greeted. The bot's red optics look at the two in surprise. "Do I... know you?" He asked. "Not yet," Ratchet said. "I'm Ratchet, And this is Wheeljack." In response, Wheeljack waved and asked, "What's your name?"

"Hot Spot?" The bot said in a questioning manner. "Yeah, Hot Spot," he confirmed. "Nice to meet you Hot Spot," Ratchet said with a smile. The medic got up and went to the next bot after giving Hot Spot a check over. This one is orange and white with a black helm and an orange faceplate. After booting him up, it was noticed that his optics are orange. Said optics look up at the medic. "Hi there. What's your name?" This one thought for a moment. "Groove." "I'm Ratchet." A scanner was held up and Groove let Ratchet check his systems. Once he was checked out, Ratchet motioned for Wheeljack to move on to the next one.

Smiling, Wheeljack booted up the next one's systems, one of the femmes. She almost immediately shot up and her helm ended up colliding with Wheeljack's. Both reeled back, servos on their helms. "Ah, shouldn't have done that," she said. "It's ok," Wheeljack said. "What's your name?" "Streetstar," she said. "Nice to meet you, Streetstar. I'm Wheeljack. The medic over there is Ratchet." Streetstar blinked and looked over at Ratchet, then back at Wheeljack. "Where are you from?" "Cybertron," Wheeljack responded. As Hot Spot and Groove joined the two and their conversation, Ratchet moved on to the next femme, the flier.

Unlike Streetstar, this one didn't immediately jump up, but instead rolled over onto her front and pushed herself to sit on her pedes. Ratchet watched her do so. Blue optics look around in curiosity before landing on the red and white bot at her side. "Who're you?" She asked. "My name's Ratchet," the mech said. "Might I ask what your name is?" She thought about it as she looked over the medic. "Blades," she finally said. "Alright Blades," Ratchet said with a smile. "Mind if I scan you to see if there's anything wrong with your systems?" At that, Blades shrugged and Ratchet took that as go ahead.

Nothing appeared to be wrong with her, so he sent her in the direction of the others while he went to the last frame, the last mech that they seemed to have rebuilt into the design of an ambulance from Earth. Ratchet booted up the bot's systems and watched as the visor lit up blue. "Hi," Ratchet greeted when the bot sat up. "Hello," the bot said. "I'm Ratchet. What's your name?" The medic asked. "First Aid," the bot immediately replied. Yeah, this one's definitely a medic. Gonna have to train him when he comes to earth in time. Apparently Ratchet hadn't seemed to notice what First Aid had done until there was a light touch on his arm. Blue optics look at the other to see that he was holding the scanner that had been previously been in red servos. "What is it?" Ratchet asked. There was a faint smile on First Aid's faceplate. "You're going to be just fine," he said. That brought a smile to Ratchet's faceplate. "That's good to know." A red servo was placed on a red helm.

* * *

In the time the five had gotten to know the two that saved them, as well as figure out who they are, they had been dubbed the Protectobots. What they didn't know was that Ratchet and Wheeljack had given the five a certain ability. "Come on, we're going to Earth for more training," Wheeljack said. It had been a few months and Ratchet had gone back after the first two. "We are?" First Aid asked. "Yeah," Wheeljack replied. "You'll get to meet more Autobots. And you'll get to protect the beings that live there." That brought four smiles. The only one not smiling was Blades.

* * *

When they got back to Earth, however, they found that the Decepticons had been attacking. The Autobots were doing what they could to fight back, but with both Menasor and Bruticus fighting Superion, they were outmatched. Looking at the five Protectobots, Wheeljack commanded, "Protectobots, transform!" Before they could figure out what he meant, they found themselves transforming, creating something they didn't know they could. Streetstar and Groove transformed into legs, Blades and First Aid into arms, and Hot Spot as the main component that they all connected to. This new colossal bot drew a gun from subspace, aimed for Bruticus, and fired. The shot collided with said bot and caused him to stumble back. Superion's red visor looked over after seeing that and gave a thumbs up before going back to fighting Menasor. "Who are you?" Bruticus asked. "Defensor," this new colossal replied before charging the Decepticon.

* * *

After the battle and the Decepticons had been sent packing, both Superion and Defensor had separated and the Protectobots were helping to clear the rubble and pull humans caught in the crossfire. Red optics did look over when one of the Aerialbots walked over to him. It was obvious this one was the leader because, judging by the sizes of the other Aerialbots, this one was bigger than the rest. "You new here?" The flier asked. "Yeah, name's Hot Spot," the blue and black mech said. "And you are...?" "Silverbolt," the bot said. "Leader of the Aerialbots." "What a coincidence," Hot Spot said. "I'm the leader of the Protectobots." "Kinda figured that," Silverbolt said with a smile and a chuckle. "You're bigger than the rest of your team." As the two were talking, Silverbolt decidedly started helping out, just like the rest of his team was doing.

* * *

"So, wait, you guys are new?" Firaflight asked as they were heading back to base. The Protectobots didn't have anywhere else to stay at the moment, so they'd be sharing with the Aerialbots. "Yep," Streetstar replied. "Onlined a few Earth months ago." "So that's why Wheeljack was gone longer than expected," Air Raid thought aloud. No bot seemed to notice Slingshot's glances at the helo femme Blades, not even the femme herself. _Was this what Air Raid felt when he first saw Skydive?_


	4. And Away We Go!

Blades stood there, her optics offline and her rotor swords in her servos. The rest of the Protectobots were just outside the room and peering in through a window alongside Wheeljack and Ironhide. "Anytime you're ready," the engineer told the femme. Blue optics online and the helo attacked the target without warning, fury in every slash and swipe. Sunstreaker didn't have enough time to counterattack at first, all he could do was dodge. When he got his footing, he did his best to fight off Blades' attacks. Why was she so angry?

-flashback to before-

Streetstar had been on her way to give her report to Prowl for him to look over when a bot called out her name. Pausing mid step, she looked over to see Sunstreaker heading her way. "Oh, hey Sunstreaker," she said when he approached. "Did you need something?" "Yeah, I was wondering if you had any free time later," he said with a smile, gently tracing her cheekplating with a digit. "Was thinking of spending some time with you." The femme shuttered a bit, then smiled. "Sure." "Alright then. Meet me in the rec. room later," he said and walked off after patting her shoulderplating. Smiling like a lovesick child, Streetstar made her way to Prowl's office. Blades stuck out further from her hiding spot, glaring at where Sunstreaker had been headed.

-back to the fig... er, training-

Once Sunstreaker was flat on his back, Blades stood on his chestplate and held one of her rotor swords to his neck cables. "Stay away from my sister," she warned, voice low, as Streetstar and Wheeljack entered to pull her off him and help Sunstreaker to his pedes. "There's something wrong with your sister," Sunstreaker said and looked at the visored femme at his side. "Now, I'm going to freshen up if you don't mind." Without another word, Sunstreaker left them. Folding her arms over her chestplate, Streetstar looked at the helo femme. "What was that about?" She asked. "What do you mean?" Blades asked as she put her rotor swords on her back. "Don't act like you don't know," Streetstar retorted, heading towards Blades, "You were clearly attacking him out of anger. And I saw you say something to him."

"Yeah, to stay away from you," Blades immediately responded. That garnered a stare from the grounder femme. "Don't you want me to be happy?" Streetstar asked, hurt in her voice. Without waiting for a response, she stormed out, shoving past her sister. Blades watched her go, confused as to why Streetstar was upset with her and hurt that she managed that while trying to protect her. She didn't trust Sunstreaker in being around her at all. Then again, she hadn't seen Streetstar's reaction over what she'd heard Sunstreaker say to her.

* * *

Streetstar had been sitting at one of the tables in the rec. room, staring into the energon cube in her servos when Sunstreaker found her. "Hey, what's wrong?" He asked and sat next to her. "It's..." She wanted to say it's nothing, but she found she couldn't say that. "Blades," she admitted. "I don't understand why she can't be happy that someone outside of our team and the Aerialbots wants to be around me." It almost sounded like her voice was going to crack. A servo was placed on her shoulderplating. "Sounds to me like she should stop being such an overprotective shut-in," he said. "Come here." The cop car leaned into him when he wrapped his arms around her. He was being... kind? This is so unlike him, but hey, she's not complaining. Never mind the fact that she found him to be warm. A soft sound escaped her and she nestled into him, slowly drinking her energon.

* * *

Blades wasn't going to apologize for her actions, least of all to Sunstreaker. But she figured she might as well try and apologize to Streetstar since she seemed pretty upset by the whole ordeal. Where was she? The flier headed to the Aerialbots' quarters, where she spotted Streetstar and... Sunstreaker. "Hey! I thought I told you to stay away from her!" The helo snarled. Two sets of optics look at Blades, a sly smile crossing the mech's faceplate.

"Since when did you become the boss of me?" He asked. "I can do what I want in terms of who I want to hang out with. Anyway, I best be going. Better not get into a fight here, of all places." With that, Sunstreaker set out on his way. Streetstar crossed her arms and looked at Blades. "Really? Again?" "I don't like him hanging around you," Blades said, looking over her shoulderplating to make sure he wasn't anywhere nearby listening in. "Something's not right about him." The sound of a pede tapping on the ground had Blades looking at Streetstar.

"The only thing that's not right is you butting in on my social life, ok? Besides, I thought you would've gotten it by now. I'm in love with Sunstreaker." Neither seemed to notice the twins listening in on the conversation. Smiling, Sideswipe looked at his golden twin to see the blush on his cheekplating. "I would very much like it if you didn't ruin my chances with him." Streetstar then entered the Aerialbots' quarters.

* * *

Hot Spot had heard about what happened and to say he was happy about it was the exact opposite of what he was really feeling. "I get she wants to protect Streetstar from getting hurt, but the fact that she's driving away the bot she wants to get close to is unacceptable," the fire truck said. "Maybe what she needs is a... distraction, of sorts," Silverbolt suggested. Rose red optics look at the Concorde. "What are you saying?" Hot Spot asked. "I'm saying that she needs to not be around when Sunstreaker and Streetstar are together," Silverbolt informed. There was a moment of silence as Hot Spot thought about that, then smiled. "Yeah."

* * *

First Aid and Groove had been on their way to the main hub. "Have you seen Firaflight around lately?" Groove asked. They used to see her around all the time when they were still considered the newbies, now her appearances are few and far between. "I heard she's been spending time with both Skyfire and Mirage," the medic in training responded. Orange optics look at him in surprise. "No, not at the same time," First Aid replied to the unspoken question. As the duo passed the lab, they noticed the door was open and there was a bright light coming from inside. Curiously, the duo peered inside to see what was going on. Sure enough, there was Skyfire. Wait, so is Firaflight and Mirage.

What are they doing? Looks like their spark chambers have been opened and their sparks are trying to become one with another. It didn't take long to click and two sets of optics look at each other in surprise before the two bots hurry off with barely any sound to their pede steps. They had to tell the others! Where did they end up finding three of the Aerialbots? In the rec. room. Once they told the three of what they saw, Slingshot did a spit take. "They did what?" Air Raid questioned in alarm. There was a nod from the motorcycle. "Yeah, that's what we saw them doing." "She hasn't even known them for long," Skydive pointed out. "They must really love each other then." Two nods of agreement. Jealousy did spike a bit from Air Raid's side of the Aerial bond and luckily neither Skydive nor Slingshot mentioned it in front of the two Protectobots. He didn't want any other teasing him about it.

* * *

Streetstar had been in her quarters listening to music and had been unaware someone else was there. Until there was a knock. A blue visor looked to find Prowl there. "What are you doing here?" She asked. "You haven't reported to your next duty and I started to wonder if you were alright or not." There was a slight smile and a nod. "Yeah, just had a bit of difficulty with a teammate. Didn't realize the time." Getting off the berth, she went over to the other cop car and went with him to where she was supposed to be working.

* * *

A battle had broken between both factions and the two combiners had been called in. The Combaticons and Stunticons had formed Bruticus and Menasor respectively. Superion had been formed from the Aerialbots to counteract. As the Protectobots were aiming to form Defensor, both Hot Spot and Groove had been plucked from their positions by a couple of the Decepticons, namely Soundwave and Thundercracker. Both Blades and Streetstar attempted to go after the two but when they took off into the sky, Blades had transformed to helicopter mode to go after them. She didn't get a chance to catch them before they suddenly disappeared.

Transforming, the helo femme landed on the ground and walked back to the Ark, where she met up with the rest of her teammates. "They disappeared before I could catch them," she said without waiting for anything to be said. Streetstar's servos clenched at mention of that as Blades walked past her and First Aid. Since those two were gone, that meant that the interceptor was the leader of the Protectobots. "Frag." Two sets of blue optics look at the femme when a servo collided with the ground, leaving behind a pretty big indent. "They're going to pay," Streetstar promised as she drew her servo back to reveal energon leaking from one of her joints. Walking to the medic, she held out her leaking servo.

First Aid nodded and began working to stop the leak. When he was done, Streetstar made her way to Superion and glared up at the aerial warrior. A red visor looked when they saw something to see Streetstar walking in their direction. She seemed mad with the way she was walking and gave off the vibe that she wanted to combine. One of the arms detached and transformed to bot mode, thus allowing her the chance. Jumping into the air, Streetstar transformed and attached to Superion. Firaflight looked up at Superion and just stared for a moment before joining the fight, as did Blades. First Aid tried to stay out as best he could.

* * *

Hot Spot paced around the cell, Groove watching him do so from the cell across from his. "Obviously they did this to take away one of the combiners," Hot Spot thought aloud. He didn't seem to notice there was something on the smaller's processor, mostly due to the fact that he's always this quiet. Or the fact that Groove managed to slip through the energon bars and was currently attempting to free Hot Spot from his prison. Once he finally noticed the purple light fade away and disappear, wide red optics look over to see the orange and white motorcycle standing there. Confusion spread across his faceplate. "They forgot I could fit through the energon bars," Groove said simply. Oh, that made sense. "Let's go," Hot Spot said as the two hurried out of the room.

* * *

When the battle was over, Superion had split up and Streetstar stormed off towards the Ark, leaving First Aid and Blades with the Aerialbots. "What's got her circuits in a bunch?" Slingshot asked. "She's upset over the fact that Hot Spot and Groove were taken by the Decepticons," First Aid responded. Five sets of optics were trained on the medic. "That's why Defensor wasn't there to help. Apparently they disappeared before Blades could catch them, which only set her off further." It would explain why she's pissed off. "And knowing her, it'll be a while before she calms down once she's in this state," Blades added. "So it's best to leave her alone until then."

* * *

The leader of the Protectobots had been called to high command for a debriefing. There was surprise when, instead of Hot Spot, a ticked off Streetstar walked in. "What happened? Where's Hot Spot?" Optimus asked. Squinted blue optics stare up at the Autobot leader. "In Decepticon custody, along with Groove," was the response she gave. "Why else was Defensor not there on the battlefield?" Someone's snarky. "I did combine with Superion in place of Firaflight, just so I could be part of a combiner." She did what? They could do that? Maybe Ratchet and Wheeljack should look into that. This was entirely new to them. "We're going to get Hot Spot and Groove back, Streetstar. No matter what," Optimus informed.

* * *

Speaking of, Hot Spot had sent Groove to scout ahead while he stayed back in a hiding spot. Currently, the small Autobot found himself walking down a hallway, gun in servos. Who knows if or when a Decepticon could be lurking around a corner. Not gonna take chances, seeing as how this is the Nemesis he and Hot Spot are on. Turning around, he was going to motion to said mech that the coast was clear when he caught sight of an approaching Decepticon. Almost immediately, the scout plunged into an open room, not really paying attention to what it was for or if there was a Con in it. Groove then scrambled under the desk that was right there. Why did he have to get stuck in this kind of situation? The sound of approaching pedes made him freeze, his intakes hitching.

Whoever it was, they must be pretty big judging by the sound of their pedefalls. Or at least one of the heavy-set bots. And of course they have to sit down at the desk. Thanks for blocking his way out. A familiar sounding outtake had Groove peering at the bot in the chair. "I can't believe we managed to lose those two gearheads." Fire orange optics widen. He knew that voice! Brawl, of the Combaticons! Wait, you mean to tell him this is Brawl's quarters? Didn't he share an h.q. with the other Combaticons? Why's he here? A ping. Hot Spot's requesting private comms. Unfortunately, Groove found himself unable to speak. But, he does know Autobot Morse code. Yeah, that's it. The scout answered the comm., then began lightly tapping away on the side of his helm almost immediately.

 _Can't exactly speak thanks to Brawl having me trapped, help if necessary._

Once the message was sent, Hot Spot's voice spoke clear as day, if a bit staticky. _::Alright, be ready to move out as soon as possible.::_ There was a silent nod and the comm. line was cut. Not even a minute later, the ship's alarms were going off with the shouts of Cons seeing one of the escaped prisoners as well as to repair the damage. Brawl shot up upon hearing all this and darted out of the room. Smiling more, Groove crawled out from under the deck, standing up in the process. He'd just managed to leave the room when a blue fire truck barreled past him. Transforming, Groove took off and caught up to the obvious Autobot, passing him and taking the lead. "Didn't take you long," Groove couldn't help but point out. "Well, yeah. We have to get out of here and in doing so we have to stick together," Hot Spot responded.

When the duo made it to a large enough space, Groove move out of the way to let Hot Spot transform and plow through the wall. Groove joined him on the outside as water poured into the ship and the duo started swimming for what they assumed was shore.

* * *

First Aid was sitting alone on the beach, barely any humans nearby. He'd wanted to give Streetstar some space and figured the best way to do so was to not be in the Ark at the moment. It'd been hours since the Decepticons had captured their teammates. Something emerging from the water had him curious. The medic stood up as two frames were seen walking out of the ocean. A bright smile crossed his faceplate when he realized who they are. "Hot Spot! Groove!" Two sets of optics look over at the medic and both smile. "Hey, First Aid." "You two escaped!" Now First Aid's walking alongside them. "You bet we did," Hot Spot said. "Streetstar's going to be so happy when she sees you two. She's been pretty mad ever since they captured you," First Aid informed.

* * *

After having gotten back to the Ark and debriefed, the two recently escaped Protectobots had gotten a chance to see Blades and the Aerialbots, but had yet to see Streetstar. They also got the salt water out of their systems. Where they found the last Protectobot femme? Teletraan-1. When Smokescreen noticed the two, he turned to the femme and said, "Hey Streetstar." In turn, she whirled around and glared dangerously. That came to an end when she saw both Hot Spot and Groove. Barely able to contain herself, Streetstar found herself jumping on the duo.


	5. Reclaiming Cybertron and Autobot City

"We're heading back to Cybertron to take back control from the Decepticons," Optimus said. "Wait, we are?" Silverbolt asked, looking up at the Autobot commander. "Yes, we are. It's about time we took the offensive. When we do have control, those that want to be stationed on Cybertron will be. Those that wish to stay here can." A slight smile crossed Silverbolt's faceplate. While he knew his teammates loved being on Cybertron, he knew they didn't want to stay there forever. Earth was their home. They wouldn't abandon it in times of need.

* * *

By now, the Protectobots have their own base and can stop lingering around the Ark. Some would consider it a good thing, since Blades always seemed to stir up a lot more trouble when she's with the Aerialbots. Especially Slingshot and Air Raid. In the months they'd spent at the Ark, they'd enjoyed every minute of it, but they all agreed that it was better this way and it was nice having some place all to themselves instead of sharing with another combiner. Not that Hot Spot had been complaining before. In fact, none of the bots outside the Protectobots knew of his crush on Aerialbot commander Silverbolt. It'd been five years and he still hasn't told the flier.

* * *

During the five years, Skydive and Air Raid had finally bonded and had twin sparklings three years into it. A femmeling named Flutter and a mechling named Buzzcloud. They're the first to have had sparklings in who knows how long, so naturally others had wanted to see them. Both have wings like their creators, for the obvious reason. While both their frames are mostly a silvery gray, they do have some coloration. Flutter's colors are pink and gray while Buzzcloud's are black and white. Both their optics are blue. Currently, the femmeling was sitting on Air Raid's shoulderplating and holding on to the 'cat ears' on his helm as the mechling is on Skydive's shoulderplating and hugging her helm. One of her servos rested on Buzzcloud's stabilizing servo while the other held a book that she was reading. Of course, Air Raid was making sure she wouldn't run into something.

The quartet had been on their way to the rec. room when a voice called out. "Air Raid, Skydive!" Looking up from her book, Skydive turned as Air Raid did to find Firaflight rushing in their direction. "What is it, Firaflight?" Skydive asked as the other femme approached. "I got word from Silverbolt that Prime had said we're going to take the offensive and try to take Cybertron back from the Decepticons," the smaller jet informed. Both Air Raid and Skydive smile at what was said. "That's great then," Air Raid said. A smile and a nod from Firaflight. "Carrier? Sire? What's Cybertron?" Buzzcloud asked. "The planet where our kind originated," Skydive informed. "It's where sire, Auntie Flight, and I were built, along with Uncle Sling and Uncle Bolt." "Oh." That made sense. "Do we get to go there?" Flutter asked, leaning her helm against Air Raid's.

* * *

"Hot Spot," First Aid called out. "What is it?" Said mech asked as he approached the medic. "Incoming message from Autobot h.q.," First Aid informed. "Ok, pull it up." Nodding, First Aid did so and Hot Spot read it from over his shoulderplating. Once they were done with it, rose red and sapphire blue optics hidden by a visor look at each other. "Better get ready for an offensive." "What kind of offensive?" First Aid and Hot Spot look to see the other three Protectobots. "When we take back Cybertron," both leader and medic inform.

* * *

"They're not gonna know what hit them," Slingshot said with a smile as he pounded a clenched servo into the palm of the other. Smiling, Silverbolt chuckled internally at seeing Slingshot's reaction. "By the way, I couldn't help but notice that you and Blades are a thing," Silverbolt said out of nowhere. Slingshot's tough guy stance altered to one of almost defeat. "Ya mean you found out?" He asked. "Nothing gets past me, big guy." A servo pat the smaller's shoulder. "I'm just glad you found somebot you love." That means he also knew of the crush had on the helo femme. Arms found their way around the harrier and hold him close. Leaning into the gentle touch, Slingshot looked up at his brother. "Looked like you could use one," was the response to the unspoken question.

* * *

Blades and Streetstar are sparring in the center of the room with Groove watching them. One was using rotor swords, the other using servos. They're pretty evenly matched against each other it seems. "So, you're sparring in preparation for the take over?" Groove asked. "That's right," both femmes say. Streetstar just barely managed to dodge a swipe from Blades before socking the flier across the faceplate. This caused her to stumble to the side a bit.

* * *

In the matter of a month or so, quite a few of the Autobots found themselves on Cybertron, Protectobots and Aerialbots included. None seemed to notice the twin sparklings that accompanied them. The two looked around in amazement. When they went to find their creators, they found the Autobots weren't there. Apparently they hadn't realized they'd left the group until then. "I wanna see carrier," Flutter whined, wings drooping. "We will find her, sire as well," Buzzcloud reassured. By the looks of it, the door to the nearest building was open, so that's where the twins ended up hiding out. As soon as they walked in, they noticed a couple bots already here that stared at them. One was a pink and white femme with pink lip plating and blue optics. The second was a mech that looked nothing like Optimus, but had the same colors as him and a lot more white as well as blue optics. Finally, there was a mech that was entirely green. For a while it seemed like it was a staring contest with how long they stared at each other. "Who are you?" The femme asked and got to the twins' level. "I'm Buzzcloud; this is my twin sister Flutter," the mechling informed as his sister partially hid behind him. "We're the sparklings of Aerialbots Air Raid and Skydive." A soft smile crossed the femme's faceplate. "Well, do they know you're here?" She asked. Buzzcloud's expression fell. That's all he needed to do for his answer to be loud and clear. "They're part of the offensive," Flutter pointed out. "What a coincidence, so are we," the green mech said. Flutter looked between the three bots. "Who are you guys?" She asked.

* * *

The fliers had been sent in different directions once airborne to take out any flying threats. Skydive and Air Raid noticed that the strong sense of their sparklings being so close hadn't left since coming to Cybertron, which was unusual. Why would they have come along knowing what it was the Autobots were doing here? They'd been specifically told not to come with them and to stay with Skyfire. If it turned out he hadn't paid attention to them, all three would be in trouble when Skydive got to them.

* * *

One twin on each of Springer's shoulders. That's who the green mech is apparently. Him, Arcee, the femme, and Ultra Magnus, the other mech, had been assigned to clearing the room that had the space bridge, so the Decepticons on Earth wouldn't find out and come to counteract the Autobot offensive. "How are we going to get in without being detected by Shockwave's drones?" Arcee asked in a quiet voice. Flutter looked around from her position, noticing the rubble on the ground. She tapped Springer's helm to get his attention and indicated the rubble when he looked at her. Springer smiled and set the femmeling on the ground. This gave her the chance to pick up a piece of rubble and send it careening into one of the drones with enough force to knock it into another. There were three sets of wide optics to say the least.

* * *

Hot Spot, Streetstar, Groove, and First Aid had been assigned to sentry duty. As in rewiring the sentries to work for them. Knowing First Aid, he wouldn't want to destroy them. Hell, not even Prime had wanted them destroyed. It was First Aid and Streetstar that we're assigned to reprogramming them. Groove and Hot Spot were protecting the duo as they worked. So far, there wasn't a single Decepticon that approached and attacked. "This one's taken care of," Streetstar said and closed the side panel. "Then let's move on to the next one," Hot Spot said, letting the femme lead them to the next one.

* * *

Flutter kept taking out the drones one by one. She didn't even notice when Springer received a comm. from their carrier. Buzzcloud did, though, because he's still sitting on the green mech's shoulderplating. Blue optics look over when he spoke up. ::Yeah, who is this?:: ::Skydive of the Aerialbots. Have you by chance seen two little sparklings by the names of Flutter and Buzzcloud?:: Springer couldn't help but smile at that. ::You must be their carrier, then.:: As soon as he said carrier, Buzzcloud perked up, a bright smile crossing his faceplate. Carrier! ::I am. They weren't supposed to come along, but it would appear they did. Are they with you?:: Judging by what he'd said before, they must be. ::Yes, ma'am. They're with Arcee, Ultra Magnus, and myself. I'm Springer, by the way.:: Well ok then. :nce the other Aerials and I are done with our mission, I'm coming to get them.:: After the call was dropped, Springer looked at Buzzcloud. "Your carrier's coming to get you when she'd done with what she's doing." There was a nod from the sparkling.

* * *

"You found out where the sparklings are?" Air Raid asked. If she'd been in bot mode, Skydive would've nodded. "Yeah, they're with Springer, Arcee, and Ultra Magnus."

* * *

When everything was over, Silverbolt had let Skydive and Air Raid go retrieve their sparklings while he, Firaflight, and Slingshot waited with the Protectobots. 4/5 of the Protectobots were looking at each other, debating whether or not to tell. Four smiles and nods. "Hey, Silverbolt. Guess what?" Streetstar said. Blue optics of the Aerialbot commander look at the grounder femme in time to see Hot Spot place a servo over her lip components and hold her close. "What is it?" "Hot Spot has a thing for you," Groove said from the other side of the Aerialbot. Rose red optics look away as sky blue ones widen and a blush spread across both commanders' faceplates. "It's been five years and he hasn't told you," Blades added. "I see," Silverbolt said. Both Slingshot and Firaflight were smiling. A light touch on his arm had Hot Spot looking over in time for a set of lip components to meet up with the side of his helm, further deepening his blush. "I wouldn't mind being with you," Silverbolt said when he pulled back. That made Hot Spot look at him, his mask retracting. Without another word said, the Protectobot leader leaned in and pressed a soft, warm kiss to a set of full lip components, closing his optics in the process. Silverbolt kept his optics opened for a moment before closing them and kissing back. Judging by the feel of things, it would seem Hot Spot has quite the full lower lip component. Streetstar smiled under Hot Spot's servo while none noticed Slingshot flapping his servos in excitement. Well, except for maybe Streetstar.

* * *

Skydive met up with the trio that had the twins that ran to her and attached themselves to her stabilizing servos. Air Raid had come shortly after her. "You must be Springer, Arcee, and Ultra Magnus," Skydive said and looked at the three respectively. "That's right, miss," Springer said. "Are you Skydive?" There was a nod from the flier femme. Her helm tilted towards the mech with her. "This is Air Raid, my mate." He nodded in response. "Thanks for taking care of our twins." "It was no big deal," Ultra Magnus was saying, "They were a big help." Her gaze was directed to the two sparklings hugging her. Both held tighter to her. They weren't used to that look and it scared them. "Please don't be mad at us carrier," Buzzcloud said as both their optics welled with coolant. "We only wanted to be with you and sire, but we got left behind." By the end of the explanation, the twins were wailing.

Buzzcloud and Flutter were immediately picked up and held tightly by their carrier. Air Raid looked at her after she picked up the twins. When they were calm enough was when Skydive spoke to them. "Just because you wanted to be with us doesn't mean you should've followed. What if either of you had gotten hurt? Or worse... what if... what if you offlined?" Now it's Skydive's turn for her optics to well up. A servo was placed on her shoulderplating. The idea of losing her sparklings upset her greatly. Arms soon found their way around the femme and held her close. Skydive leaned into it, resting her helm on Air Raid and letting the coolant fall. Two sets of small arms wrap around the upset femme as best they can. Air Raid proceeded to rub her back.

* * *

Upon reaching the Ark, Skydive had regained her composure and the twins had been passed to their sire. The femme made her way to Skyfire's position with her mate in tow. Skyfire had been in the lab when he was found. "Hey, shuttle." He turned to see Skydive standing there, alongside Air Raid holding Buzzcloud and Flutter. In that moment, he knew she was mad because he hadn't been looking after the twins like he said he would. Nothing was said as the femme approached him, especially when she hit him with such force it would've knocked any normal bot off their seat. She then walked back to Air Raid and the twins. "You two hungry?" Skydive asked the twins. Two nods and an exclamation of, "Yeah," from Buzzcloud. A slight smile from the femme and she pat the mechling's helm. With that, the four of them left the lab and went to the rec. room. Ok, Skyfire had to admit to deserving that hit.

* * *

Hot Spot smiled and hugged Silverbolt tightly. Still couldn't believe the flier agreed to a relationship with him. His smile widened as arms wrapped around his frame, a helm resting on him. Neither said anything and just stayed like this for a while. No bot else complained. "I love you," Hot Spot said. A smile crossed Silverbolt's faceplate. "I love you, Hot Spot."

* * *

It only took, what? A couple years? Yeah, a couple years for Slingshot and Blades to bond. "Ya could'a been with some other bot, ya know," Slingshot said as he laid on the Protectobot femme. "Could've, but I bonded to you," she replied, her arms wrapped around the small Aerialbot in a hug that wasn't too tight or too loose. "And it's better than anything I could ever want." Her words had him smiling and nestling into the helico. He would flap his servos, but seeing as how they're wrapped around Blades, settled on wagging his wings back and forth. A bright smile crossed Blades' faceplate at his reaction. She had to admit, he was adorable. An orange visor looked at her, a slight blush on his faceplate. What? Him? No. It was her that was adorable.

* * *

The year everything changed. 2006. At this point, the Autobots have built a city here on Earth and called it Autobot City. They've also included Metroplex, a titan. Just like how the Decepticons included Metroplex's counter, Trypticon. At this point it'd been discovered that Firaflight is carrying. Not just one or even two, but... "Wait, what do you mean?" She asked. "Exactly what I said," Ratchet said. "You're carrying four sparklings." All this seemed to hit her hard for she stared at the ground without saying a word. Even as she slowly walked out of the medbay. How would Skyfire and Mirage react to it? What would their names be? Their frame types? Colors? It wasn't until a set of arms wrapped around her frame did she realize she'd stopped in the middle of the hallway and a bot had joined her. Icy blue optics look to see a blue and white frame and golden optics. "Hey gorgeous," he greeted. A slight smile crossed her faceplate. "Hey Mirage." Smiling, Mirage held her close and rested his helm on the femme. "It's going to be alright." Firaflight smiled more and hugged the grounder mech. She knew she could count on either him or Skyfire for cheering her up.

* * *

"You're kidding," Silverbolt exclaimed. "Four sparklings?" Skydive asked. Slingshot and Air Raid stared in dumbfounded silence. Buzzcloud and Flutter were elsewhere and hadn't heard of the news. "That's what Ratchet said," Firaflight informed. "Guess we'll find out which sparkling gets what from whom." Skyfire placed a servo on her shoulderplate and smiled when she looked at him. "I've already seen Mirage and he said it's going to be fine." The large white flier pulled the femme for her second hug so far.

* * *

Both Firaflight and Mirage stared at Skyfire when it was revealed he'd be leaving on an exploration out in space for something Perceptor needed that wasn't on Earth. It'd been a few months since they found out Firaflight's carrying and it's starting to show on her protoform. She was trying not to cry. "Come on, Firaflight. I won't be gone long," Skyfire was saying as he cupped her faceplate. "Besides, you have Mirage here with you." Firaflight placed her servos on his wrist joints. "I'll feel better knowing both my mates are here and safe." There's the waterworks. Sad, icy blue optics look at the white flier. The coolant was wiped away and a soft kiss pressed to her lip components. Kissing back, two sets of optics close. Gray servos tighten their grip on wrist joints just before the kiss is broken a moment later. "I'll be back before you know it, sweetspark," Skyfire told. "Just promise me you'll be safe," Firaflight said as she looked at him. "I promise," Skyfire smiled. "I love you. You too, Mirage." The blue and white mech joined the two fliers, placing a servo on the femme and the other on Skyfire. Firaflight almost immediately hugged the grounder and buried her faceplate his neck cables.

* * *

Out of nowhere, the Decepticons started attacking Autobot City. Slingshot and Silverbolt had been fighting in root mode in the air. What's with the sudden attack? And where did they come from? Orange optics glance in Silverbolt's direction to see he hadn't been paying attention to the Decepticon aiming for him. Without really thinking it through, Slingshot found himself knocking his brother out of the way and his neck cables being struck, purple liquid spilling from the open wound that just wouldn't stop leaking. He gave a cry of pain before finding himself falling. A voice called his name, but he couldn't hear it. Nor could he hear the sound of thrusters getting closer. What he did notice was when arms wrapped around him and that his rapid descent slowed.

Looking to see who was holding him, faint orange optics made out very familiar colors. It was Silverbolt! "Come on, don't offline on me," Silverbolt was saying. Pressure was placed on Slingshot's neck cables once the duo was on the ground. A medic was called for a couple times, all while Slingshot was on the verge of falling into stasis lock. Sky blue optics look at the visored Aerial in his arms. "Stay with me, Slingshot. I need you." Slingshot's mouth opened slightly. It looked like Silverbolt wanted to cry. Also, his voice sounded like it was going to crack. "I love you," Silverbolt said. Orange visor offlining, a servo attempted to reach towards the bigger mech. Seeing this, Silverbolt got a hold of said servo with the one that wasn't on Slingshot's neck cables. Checking the bond between the two, Silverbolt found a mix of a couple emotions. Scared because he didn't want to die, sad because he didn't like seeing Silverbolt so upset (which was rare in and of itself), and above all, love overflowing. Once again Silverbolt called for a medic. The bot to show up? Hoist. When he saw the damage done to the smaller flier, he was immediately at Slingshot's side. Silverbolt removed his servo and let the green and gold mech do his work. It did take some time, but when it was over, Slingshot immediately sat up and latched onto Silverbolt, refusing to let go. Silverbolt returned the hug and held the other tightly. At least now he knew his brother wouldn't offline on him. "I love you, Slingshot," Silverbolt murmured to said mech.

* * *

The five Protectobots had been helping out some human city close to Autobot City when a storm threatened to flood them. They'd been unaware of what was going on with the other Autobots. That is, until Blades felt a sharp pain in her neck cables for no reason. She jolted up and looked towards the bot made city as hurt and longing filtered through from Slingshot's side. Which is when she realized something was going on. "Guys! Something's going on at Autobot City!" She cried out to the other Protectobots. Four sets of optics look towards said city to see what looked a lot like Decepticons swarming it. "Beachcomber," Groove murmured. "We can't leave the humans here unattended," Hot Spot said. Apparently someone didn't get the memo because there was the sound of transformation, wheels skidding on pavement shortly after. Rose red optics look to see a motorcycle leaving the city. "Groove! What are you doing?!" He asked. "Make sure Slingshot's ok!" Blades called out.

* * *

Once he was in Autobot City, Groove transformed and tracked down Beachcomber using his spark signature. He also had to track down Slingshot for Blades' sake. Orange optics look around for any familiar Autobot frames. Any Decepticon ones that approached were shot down by the scout. Come on, where is Beachcomber and Slingshot? "Hey! Groove!" A voice called out to the Protectobot. Naturally, he went to check it out and found Slingshot and Silverbolt once there. "Thank Primus, Blades was worried about you," Groove said to the visored Aerial. That brought a smile to Slingshot's faceplate. "There's a city not far outside this one, think you could take him there?" Groove asked Silverbolt. "The other Protectobots are there." Silverbolt nodded and took off in the air with Slingshot in his arms. Without another word, Silverbolt took off in the direction of the city Groove came from. Now to find Beachcomber.

* * *

Speaking of, Beachcomber was with Bumblebee defending their area of Autobot City. The pacifist, while he may not like fighting, was doing what was necessary for the Decepticons to be stopped. What neither grounder had been expecting to hear was the revving of an engine and the sound of an approaching motorcycle. Even the few Decepticons that were left looked in time to see the rear tire of a motorcycle land on one of their faceplates and 'burnout,' so to speak. The motorcycle soon transformed and jumped over the Decepticon, throwing them over his helm into another. Sure enough, there stood an orange and white Protectobot in a fighting stance. All the bots that charged him were easily taken down without doing damage to them. "Groove! How'd you find us?" Beachcomber asked. Fire orange optics look at Beachcomber and a smile crossed Groove's faceplate. "I traced your spark signature."

* * *

As he approached the city, Silverbolt landed on the grounded and walked the rest of the way. Slingshot was set on the ground when there. Didn't want the others seeing him being carried, now do we? Sure enough, there was the other Protectobots. They'd had to do a bit or searching, but there they are. Arms found their way around Slingshot's frame when a certain femme saw him. Slingshot smiled brightly and hugged Blades. Hot Spot placed an arm on Silverbolt's shoulderplate. "Did Groove send you here?" He asked. "Yeah," Silverbolt responded. "He found us after Slingshot'd been repaired. Shot in the neck cables when protecting me." For a moment, no bot said a thing. "He did the right thing."

* * *

Firaflight covered her helm with part of an arm as she found herself running away from an entrance. Mirage was with her and her other arm was around her abdomen. Couldn't risk the sparklings getting hurt, or worse. And of course, there was the fact that she wouldn't fight whenever a Decepticon would cross their path. Mirage would do that for her. At one point the ground started to give way. Getting a hold of the grounder, Firaflight activated her thrusters and flew the two of them across when the split became too big to cross on foot. Golden optics look up at the femme to see the strain on her faceplate. There was also tiredness weeping through the bond. "Take us down, Flight," Mirage said. She obliged, though not how he would've liked or expected. It was kind of like a crash landing, he rolled, she skidded on her side. Scrambling to his pedes, Mirage was soon at her side and picking her up. It would seem she fell into recharge. Jeez, she's heavy.

* * *

"Flutter! Buzzcloud! No!" Skydive cried out and struggled in Air Raid's grip. Said mech looked away from the rubble that had come falling down on the twins. It didn't take long for the femme to slip out of her mate's servos in favor of sitting on the ground. Both her and Air Raid had tried to reach out to their younglings, only to not be able to find them, which upset the bookworm to the point where coolant dribbled down her faceplate. Something caught Air Raid's attention and made him turn around to see a Decepticon charging at him. None seemed to notice a flash from the rubble until something burst out from underneath. Three sets of optics look to see a green opticed bot with pink, gray, black, and white armor.

Skydive's optics widened when she realized and reached out to the bot via the bond and was bombarded with love in return. This brought a smile to her faceplate, but didn't stop the coolant falling. The new bot focused on the Decepticon and focused their attack on the bot. They spun in a cyclone effect, drawing the bot into the air before ramming what appeared to be a tutonium spiked baseball bat into their helm with such force, it basically tore off their helm. When they let the con crash onto the ground, the bat was driven through the con's spark chamber, effectively offlining them. Green optics look at the two other fliers. "You guys made it," Skydive breathed. There was a nod from the bot before they disassembled, Buzzcloud and Flutter landing where the other once was. The duo immediately went to their carrier and hugged her once at her level. An arm was thrown around each twin and they were held close. "I thought I lost you guys!"

* * *

"That was our first time combining!" Buzzcloud exclaimed with a bright smile and a gleam in his optics. "Well, you both did a great job," Silverbolt praised. Now it's time for Flutter to smile as well. "What I wanna know is," Slingshot started, "What made you two suddenly want to find out you could combine this late in the game?" Slingshot's question had the others wondering that as well. Two sets of optics look at Skydive. "We heard carrier crying," Flutter said. Upon hearing that, Skydive perked up and looked at the twins. "Yeah, we didn't want her to be upset," Buzzcloud added. Once again the black and red femme found herself hugging the two younglings that hugged back. "Couldn't have asked for better younglings than you two," she said with a smile. "And we couldn't ask for a better carrier," both twins say. That prompted a tighter hug from Skydive.

* * *

It was time for the arrival of Firaflight's quadruplets. How she decided for them to be born? Energon bath, Skydive'd said it wouldn't hurt as much that way. And of course, Skydive was the midwife as the humans called it. First Aid was busy with repairs, so somebot has to be there to help. Who better than the bot that'd had a couple of her own? Mirage was the bot in the bath with her and hugging Firaflight from behind. Skyfire and Air Raid are there as well, the former for the obvious reason and the latter because he wanted to see the sparklings. "When you're ready," Skydive said. A nod from Firaflight. Within moments, the first sparkling was on its way out. It was at this point that Buzzcloud and Flutter had joined them in favor of standing next to their sire. "What's going on?" Flutter asked and looked up at Air Raid. "Auntie Flight's sparklings are on the way," Air Raid replied. There's two looks of surprise and two sets of optics trained on the older flier. "Sparklings? As in more than one?" Buzzcloud asked. "Yeah, she's having four," Air Raid responded.

Not long after saying that, the first sparkling was fished out and dried off, finding their way into Firaflight's arms shortly after. This one appears to have tiny wings, a flier obviously. "Aww," Firaflight cooed. "This one's got wings." One of Skyfire's, no doubt. Speaking of, Skyfire perked up at the mention of wings. Bright, blue optics peer at the sparkling in Firaflight's arms. Mirage smiled and kissed the side of the flier's helm when he was close enough. Both mechs barely noticed when the second one was delivered. It wasn't until Firaflight shifted and another sparkling was in her arms. This one appeared to have tiny wheels near their shoulderplating and on the back of their stabilizing servos. Clearly a grounder and one of Mirage's. Green optics blink open and stare up at Firaflight. A bright smile crossed both Firaflight and the sparkling's faceplates. Mirage would've given her a squeeze had it not been for the other two still inside her so he settled on nuzzling her. Smiling, Firaflight rested her helm on Mirage's. When the third arrived, it was passed to Skyfire, seeing as how Firaflight already had her arms full. Not to mention, this one has wings just like the first one. However, Skyfire noticed something was off about the sparkling. Something about their optics. They were looking right at him, but it didn't seem like they could see him. A private comm. was sent to the other two in the bond. ::I think this one needs a check up. Don't think they can see me.:: Two sets of optics look at the white flier. Firaflight leaned forward so Mirage could lean over and look at the winged sparkling. And Skyfire was right without a doubt. The sparkling didn't even look over at Mirage when his helm appeared in front of their faceplate.

* * *

The three mates found themselves in the medbay after the fourth was born. Luckily, First Aid had just finished repairs when they walked in. "I see it was successful," he said and smiled under his mask upon seeing them. Firaflight nodded. "Skyfire said that he thought one of them couldn't see him," Mirage informed. "Might as well take a look," First Aid said. "Bring them here." Skyfire went and placed the sparkling on a berth, holding them in a sitting position. Small servos held on to Skyfire's larger one as their optics were trained forward, as they had been before. First Aid picked up a scanner and walked over to the flier and his sparkling.

It would seem the sparkling didn't even notice the medic's approach, or the fact that they'd been scanned. They could tell something was in front of them because they reached for it out of curiosity. There was a blink from behind a visor when a tiny servo got a hold of the scanner. Right above where the medic's servo is. This elicited a couple smiles, one of which is hidden by a mask. However, First Aid's attention was drawn to the scanner when it beeped a couple times, right above the sparkling's optics. "It would seem Skyfire's right," First Aid informed, "My scanner says that there's something wrong with their optics." "They're blind," Firaflight concluded. First Aid let the sparkling play with the scanner and looked at the three. There was nothing harmful the tiny one could do with it, anyway. "It would seem so."


	6. We're a Bunch of Nerds

It'd been a couple months since the Decepticon attack on Autobot City had been quelled and repairs were nearly done. Unfortunately, a lot of Autobots had died during the attack. Three examples are Optimus, Ratchet, and Wheeljack. Hot Rod had been chosen by the Matrix to become Rodimus Prime and a new enemy named Galvatron rose as Decepticon leader. Whatever happened to Megatron? It's also been a couple months since the arrival of Firaflight's sparklings and the reveal that the younger of the two fliers is blind. There was a small amount of color on each one's frames. The oldest has white, the next has both white and a light purple, the blind flier has red, and the last one has blue. Only one was given a name so far and that's Jetline, the blind one. First Aid had said it could take a while for the others to receive names, just like it had been with Air Raid and Skydive's twins. As it turns out, the two fliers are femmes and the two grounders are mechs.

* * *

"So, wait, what's going on?" Firaflight asked as she held Jetline, whom was gnawing on a toy. "Something went wrong with the new generator and we have no idea what's wrong with it," Blaster informed. Jetline squeaked a bit when Firaflight held tighter. "Sorry, Jetline," she said and looked at the sparkling. The femmeling smiled and placed a servo on her carrier.

* * *

Grimlock had done a bit of studying into combiner technology and what made them combine, even with teams that weren't their own. What he found was that they had a certain organ that bots outside of combiners didn't have, so he made five copies of them. All this while no other was with him.

* * *

It'd been deemed that anti-electrons were the cause for the malfunction and the reason Grimlock is basically smarter than Perceptor. Grimlock also stated that there was more in Unicron's helm. So, what'd they decide to do about it? Well, Grimlock, Kup, Rodimus, and Perceptor made it to Unicron's floating helm to look for anti-electrons only to get shot down by some. While Rodimus and Kup were affected by the anti-electrons as the duo were fighting the Decepticons alongside Perceptor, Grimlock wandered off without any notice from the enemy. Odd. One would think they'd notice a robotic T-Rex walking away, but apparently not. Where he was going, somewhere inside Unicron's helm to do something. Being here gave him an idea of what to use. What he ended up building and putting the first combiner component in was a drill tank. "Awaken Nosecone, I , Grimlock, have created you." The drill tank transformed into an orange, maroon, and white femme and flexed her arm a bit before looking at Grimlock. "Are you my father?" She asked. "Just think of me as your fellow Autobot," Grimlock told.

* * *

Nosecone had drilled a passage into the next room per Grimlock's request, where he ended up building four more bots that received the other four combiner components. One thing Nosecone noticed as she'd watched him work is that the red bot she was currently standing next to is a femme, just like her. When the Dinobot was done, he stepped back to look over the bots in front of him. "I, Grimlock, shall call you the Technobots." "Yahoo! It feels great to be a Technobot!" The mech almost farthest from Nosecone exclaimed, raising his gun. "My name's Strafe!" "Far out! Fantastic!" The next mech followed suit, though without raising a gun. "I'm Afterburner! I'm raring to burn neutrons and see some heavy action!" Even though it was hidden by a visor, the red femme rolled her optics and looked at the mech at her side. "Mellow out, Afterburner," she said. "Says who?" Afterburner asked and glared at her. "They call me Lightspeed, faster than a speeding photon," she responded. Grimlock went up to the mech at the end of the Technobot line, placing a clawed servo on his shoulder. "And you, Scattershot, shall be the leader of the Technobots."

* * *

Scattershot'd refused at first, but Grimlock stayed with his choice. They'd also been sent to help the Autobots, then combined into Computron to counteract Abominus, given Grimlock's super intelligence, and finally sent the Decepticons fleeing. Rodimus had even thanked and welcomed them once they were on Cybertron. A black and red femme with wings approached the five when the crowd dissipated. Alongside her was another flier, this one around Scattershot's height. "You guys new?" The femme asked. Five sets of optics look at the two, three hidden by visors. "Yeah, and who are you guys?" Lightspeed asked. "I'm Skydive, and this is my friend Silverbolt," the Aerial replied, indicating the Aerial mech. "I'm also team leader of the Aerialbots, of which she's part of," Silverbolt informed. "Grimlock appointed me team leader," Scattershot admitted. Silverbolt smiled. "Well, if you ever need any help, come find me or Hot Spot, he's leader of the Protectobots," he told. Scattershot nodded. "Will do." Smiling, Skydive looked at the two femmes. "And if you two want to talk to another femme outside the two of you, there's a few femmes around besides me," she said. Both Nosecone and Lightspeed smile. At least they weren't alone with this.

* * *

The five Technobots had toured the city they're in and when it was over, they were shown where they'd be staying. Lightspeed looked around in awe. This place is amazing! The Techno femme looked over when there was a knock. Oh, it's Strafe. "Hey, Strafe. What's up?" She asked. "I don't wanna recharge alone tonight, is it ok if I recharge with you?" Honestly, he seemed so innocent and frail at the moment, it was cute. "Sure." A bright smile crossed Strafe's faceplate and he hugged the femme. Optics widen under a visor and arms found their way around the smaller mech.

* * *

That following morning, Lightspeed onlined to not one but two framed nestled up to her. When she sat up, the frames went with her. Well, there's Strafe and apparently Nosecone as well. When did she join them? Not like Lightspeed was complaining. She did manage to slip out from underneath the two and let them continue recharging on her berth. In all honesty, she just wanted to explore some more. Peering into Afterburner's room, she found him recharging against a wall with a video game controller in his servos. The screen seems to have turned off by itself. This brought a faint smile to the femme's faceplate. Good to know he found something he likes already. Moving on, Lightspeed went to check on Scattershot to find he's not in his room. Odd. Where was he? Wasn't in the common area either. Why did he just randomly disappear? Eh, well. Time to explore. First, energon. One of the first bots she was when she went to get her energon was none other than Scattershot. So this is where he disappeared to.

"Hey, Scattershot," she said after getting her morning ration and sitting at the same table as him. His blue visor looked at her. "Hey Lightspeed," he greeted. For the most part, the two drank their energon in silence. It wasn't until halfway through the femme's cube that Scattershot noticed something was wrong with her. First off, he noticed a faint rusted spot on otherwise clear shoulderplating. Then there was the fact that she was trembling. When she lowered her cube, her engine revved. Not even a second into it, there was a faint crack that would barely be noticeable to anyone but the Technomech. "I think we should see the medic," he said and helped her out of her seat, taking her to the medbay. They were lucky enough to find the medic was already there. He appeared to be a smaller red and white grounder mech, evident by the wheels on his lower stabilizing servos. And it also said 'emergency' in bold red letters on white plating. "My friend needs help," Scattershot said. The medic looked at the duo as she was being helped onto a berth to see her trembling and a pretty nasty rust rash. "Oh, my!" He exclaimed and rushed over. "What brought this on?" He asked and looked over the Techno femme. "I don't know," Scattershot said. "She was refueling just fine and then this happened. And also, I think there's something wrong with her engine." A broken sounding rev escaped her engine as if on cue and another crack was heard, this time louder. "I see what you mean," First Aid said. As he was giving her an injection to help with the rash and the trembling, the medic glanced over at the other mech. "So, wait, you said she was refueling when all this started?" "Yeah," Scattershot replied. "Weird. Sounds like something the humans call an allergy," First Aid said. Lightspeed laid on the berth when First Aid gently requested. Scattershot stayed nearby as First Aid worked to fix Lightspeed's engine.

Weird, feels like there's a set of optics on him. Looking around, he didn't see any other bot. Must be coming from elsewhe... who's sparklings are these? The little flier didn't seem to notice he was there like the little grounder did. They must be siblings since the grounder was helping the flier come over to him. That's when he realized the flier must be blind. That's going to suck when they're older. When the duo made it to the Technobot, they paused and looked up at him. Seems the blind flier noticed he's here. Confusion lapped at his field and it dawned on him: they don't know who he is. Maroon and white arms gently picked up the duo and held them close to his frame. Both Lightspeed and First Aid noticed this. "Seems you found two of Firaflight's sparklings," he said. "The flier is Jetline. The other one doesn't have a name yet, but he's one of her brothers. Don't know if you noticed, but Jetline is blind. No idea why or how, but it is what it is. Her brother seems to want to help out all the time." Lightspeed smiled slightly. "Quite the little ace, aren't you?" She asked the mechling.

* * *

"How do you feel about the name Ace?" First Aid asked Firaflight as Jetline and her brother were handed to her. She smiled at that. "Yeah, I like it. Where did it come from?" "They wandered into the medbay as I was helping Lightspeed with something and I explained he's been helping her. Lightspeed mentioned it. I guess it just stuck out," First Aid replied. "Thanks, Aid," Firaflight said. Ace cooed and leaned forward, placing his servos on his sister. Jetline smiled and trilled back at Ace.

* * *

Three sets of optics stared at the red femme. "So, wait, you're allergic to energon?" Strafe asked. Lightspeed nodded. "That's what First Aid said." Afterburner got up and walked off. It was unusual to see him so calm, especially with how angry he got at his game last night. It didn't take long to figure of what he was up to because there was the sound of something smashing and the four of them rushing out to see what it was. Apparently Afterburner punched the tv and then knocked it off its stand, further breaking it.

"What the frag was that for?" Scattershot asked. "Hasn't even been a day and already shit goes down," Afterburner said. "Might not wanna say that in front of the sparklings," Lightspeed said. "There are sparklings?!" Strafe exclaimed. A chuckle from Lightspeed and she nodded. "What's a sparkling?" He then asked. "A tiny transformer," Scattershot said. Oh, ok. Still new, so he's learning. Maybe he'd get to meet one of them one day!


	7. Carry On

"You notice this?" Mirage asked. "Notice what?" Firaflight asked and looked at him, as Skyfire did. "This," Mirage said and pointed to something on the oldest sparkling's faceplate, just under her right optic. Both fliers took a closer look at the femmeling. It appeared to be a fluffy white star. As they were doing so, the femmeling smiled and reached out for Skyfire. He gladly took her from Mirage. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Skyfire asked and looked at the femme. "Cloudstar," Firaflight said and looked up at Skyfire. A smile crossed Skyfire's faceplate. "Yeah." Smiling, Firaflight leaned against her flier mate and placed a servo on Cloudstar's helm. Innocent blue optics look up at the femme. "Carri," Cloudstar said out of nowhere. Upon hearing that, three sets of optics widen and look at the femmeling. "I'm sorry, what was that?" Firaflight asked.

"Carri," Cloudstar repeated, getting a hold of one of Firaflight's digits in both her tiny servos. "Yeah, that's right," Firaflight chuckled. "I am carri." Cloudstar smiled brightly. She's adorable. Wanna know who else is? The little one that toddled up to Mirage and placed his servos on the mech's stabilizing servo. Golden optics look down to see green ones staring up at him. Seeing as how he wanted to be held, Mirage picked up the mechling that curled around his servos. Mirage couldn't help but smile at the sight of his mechling's action. Aww, talk about adorable! Then there was the fact that the mechling yawned. Seems like he's tired, so Mirage'll just hold him to close and watch as the mechling nestled into his frame and closed his optics. "Sure seems to like sire," Firaflight said. "Both the older sparklings." It's not like either were complaining.

* * *

Mirage placed the sparkling in his crib, replacing his servos for a blanket instead. A blanket that was immediately wrapped around the sparkling's frame. Skyfire had been placing Cloudstar in her crib when something bumped into the grounder's stabilizing servo. Again, golden optics look down. This time, it was Jetline he saw there. Ace came shortly behind her, stopping next to her. Getting to their level, Mirage smiled. "Hi, you two," he said. "You sleepy as well?" There was a nod from both Ace and Jetline. Ok, up they go into Mirage's arms. They were carried to their shared crib and placed in it. Skyfire joined Mirage to watch the two sparklings. As soon as Ace was laying on his front with his servos near his helm, Jetline laid down on her front with one wing covering Ace. It was a good thing Skyfire had a camera with him, so he could get a picture of this adorable moment between the two siblings. "Where did Flight say she was going again?" Mirage whispered and looked up at Skyfire. "Wanted to spend time with those two new femmes," Skyfire replied quietly. Oh, ok. Femme time. Nothing wrong with that.

* * *

Laughter erupted from the sextet of femmes. "So, wait, what else have they done?" Lightspeed asked when the laughter was dying down. Currently, the Aerial, Protecto, and Techno femmes were nearing Quadrant Epsilon and talking about some of the stupid things teammates have done when a figure darted into the shadows. A figure that looked oddly familiar. Streetstar stopped in her tracks when she noticed it. "Something up, Streetstar?" Nosecone asked when the others saw her stop. "Did you see something?" Blades asked. There was a nod from the cop car. "In the shadows." Silencing their pedefalls, the femme's followed Streetstar's lead. Her visor turned green as she turned on night vision so she could see clearly. Since this area was unfamiliar territory, it was also being recorded by both Streetstar and Skydive. Who knows, they could use it in the future.

Streetstar picked up something not far ahead. It was a bot that had stopped in front of a building. Arms are held out and tha other femmes stopped. Zooming in, Streetstar watched as they typed a code into the keypad by the door, studying the code. The door opened, then closed behind the bot when they were inside. Arms lowered when they were sure the bot had moved away from the door. "Let's go." With that, the six femmes cautiously walked to the door, where Streetstar put in the code she'd memorized. They all flooded in once the door was opened. Firaflight narrowly missed getting her wing caught in the door when it closed on her way in. Luckily all six were inside before being essentially locked in. None spoke, though all were curious as to what this place is. Looking at the other five femmes, Streetstar signaled that they should split into teams of two, each with a flier. The three teams are: Firaflight and Lightspeed, Skydive and Nosecone, and Streetstar and Blades.

* * *

Ok, they should've been back by now. Scattershot wasn't the only one who was worried. So is Strafe, Air Raid, Slingshot, Mirage, and Skyfire. "Where are they?" Slingshot asked. He wanted to snuggle up to Blades and watch some movie. An orange visor looked up when a servo is placed on his shoulderplating to see Silverbolt looking down at him. "They'll come back." For everyone's sake, they better. Arms wrap around the bigger flier and hold tightly.

* * *

Firaflight and Lightspeed had their weapons ready in case there was an imminent threat that decided to pop out of nowhere. They'd taken the first of three tunnels while the others took the other two. So, this is Firaflight, the femme that had four sparklings via two different mates. Judging by the appearance of the sparklings, one of those mates has to be a grounder. The other was anybot's guess. It was obvious as to why she would have more than one mate, the flier is pretty cute. But she's not Lightspeed's type. Time to focus on why they're here.

* * *

Skydive and Nosecone has taken the second tunnel, which was fine with them. No distractions, no mechs trying too flirt with them, no bot asking for help every now and again. Both femmes had their servos on their weapons, for if they needed to use them. Although it didn't seem like they really needed to at the moment. There sure seems to be a lot of twists and turns, but they did eventually reach the end of the tunnel. It wasn't until they saw a light that they realized what it was they were looking at.

* * *

This left Blades and Streetstar heading down the third and final tunnel. The sense of wanting to snuggle and watch a movie was strong from Slingshot's side of the bond. Blades'd have to check up on that when they're done here. She nearly bumped into Streetstar thanks to not noticing her stop. "Turn on your lights," Streetstar said in a hushed tone. Standing next to the grounder, Blades did just that. What were they met with? A wall. "It's a dead end," Streetstar stated blandly. "Maybe one of the other pairs found the right path?" Blades suggested. "Let's just hope so." The duo then started heading back the way they came.

* * *

Both Firaflight and Lightspeed were running out of their tunnel by the time the Protecto femmes had reached the junction. They had minor scratches, but their expressions showed that they'd seen something, along with the running. "Don't go that way!" Firaflight warned before her and Lightspeed took off down the middle tunnel. Blades and Streetstar gave each other a look before something emerged from Firaflight and Lightspeed's tunnel. It appeared to be some extreme version of what the humans referred to as a hell hound, only Cybertronian. Before Blades could draw out her swords, Streetstar took her by the arm and ran off in the direction the Aerial and Techno femmes went.

* * *

Two sets of optics widen as Skydive and Nosecone stood there at the bottom of a set of stairs. They were about to climb up when there was the sound of bots heading in their direction. Turning, the duo found the other four femmes shooting by them. Right when Skydive was going to ask what was wrong was when they spotted the hell hound. Holy mother of horse! Skydive's arms weaved under Nosecone's arms and she took off into the air, blatantly not using the stairs in favor of flying the duo away from whatever that was. It wasn't until the duo passed the others did they take to the air with their designated partner. Once at the end, Nosecone was set down and Skydive landed. Same goes for Fireflight and Lightspeed, then Blades and Streetstar after. Nosecone and Skydive shot the wall above the doorway they came from once Blades landed, causing it to collapse. "We should have some time to figure out what's going on here," Skydive said.

* * *

All six femmes found themselves in what appeared to be a circular room that has a bunch of computer related stuff. Lightspeed and Nosecone walked to two of the different computers while the other four explored the room. With the press of a key from a red digit, the computers turned on with an alarm sounding almost immediately. "What's going on?" Firaflight asked. "Intruder alert, intruder alert," a monotonous femme voice said from out of nowhere. "Whomever Streetstar saw come in here must've had it set so any Autobot who tries accessing the computer sets off an alarm," Nosecone informed as she and Lightspeed got to work in disarming it. Skydive turned when a shadow fell over her to see a familiar yellow optic staring directly at her. Holy mother of hen!

* * *

Air Raid jumped when he suddenly felt intense pain from Skydive's side of the bond. Something must've happened for him to feel something like that. Buzzcloud all of a sudden slammed the door open and walked towards the older mech. "Is it about carrier?" Air Raid asked and looked at his mechling. Without a word, Buzzcloud nodded and found himself wrapped in his sire's arms and held close. Flutter soon joined them, managing to worm her way under one of Air Raid's arms.

* * *

Firaflight held a limp Skydive over her shoulderplating as her, Streetstar, and Blades fought Shockwave. "How are you two doing over there?" Firaflight asked. "Hold him off a while longer," Nosecone said. "We found something interesting." "Don't know how much longer we can hold him off, but we can try," Firaflight said. Nosecone looked over at Lightspeed to see her staring intently at the screen, processing what was on it. Oh, she sure hoped Lightspeed would hurry up. This was the only case where she wanted something like that to happen. What let her know the red femme was done was when she raised her servo and slammed it into the computer desk, digging into it and grabbing wires. With a harsh yank, wires and all that were pulled out. Lightspeed got a grip with her other servo and tore the wires apart. Taking it as her cue, Nosecone took hold of the screen and pulled it off its hinges. She then carried it to where shockwave was. When the other femmes saw her, they backed off. A yellow optic looked at the Techno femme, then at what she's carrying. Without warning, the screen was brought crashing down onto Shockwave's helm. Now that he's trapped, Streetstar could pull out a pair of stasis cuffs and put them on the Decepticon.

* * *

Multiple sets of optics look at the group when Shockwave was plopped in front of them, servos in stasis cuffs behind him. "Let me get this straight, you six snuck into Shockwave's secret lab without anybot noticing, downloaded his projects, took down his computers, and managed to capture him?" Rodimus asked the smiling femmes. "Yeah," Streetwise and Lightspeed said as Blades and Firaflight nodded. "I'm impressed, and in your first go. Don't know how we missed him," Rodimus said. - Firaflight took Skydive to medbay and laid her on one of the berths. First Aid had followed her. "Shockwave came out of nowhere and attacked her," Firaflight informed. The medic was at Skydive's side, repairing the flier femme. "At least you guys made it out in one piece," First Aid said. There was a nod from the other femme.

— Omake -

"Carrier!" Two voices chorus. Skydive came to a halt as her twins ran towards her. Buzzcloud was the one to latch onto her while Flutter got hold of one of her servos. A smile crossed the femme's faceplate, an arm wrapping around Buzzcloud and holding him close as her servo closed around both of Flutter's. The mechling nuzzled into the black and red femme. Arms wrap around the femme's waist from behind and a helm rested on her shoulderplating. "We missed you, sweetspark," Air Raid said. Smiling more, Skydive looked at her mate. "I missed you guys as well," she said.

* * *

"Streetstar!" A voice called out. Looking behind her, Streetstar saw a familiar golden mech running in her direction. "What is it, Sunstreaker?" She asked as he slowed down and stopped by her. "I heard about what you and the other femmes did," Sunstreaker said with a slight smile. "Can't believe you noticed him like that." Streetstar smiled at what he said. Was he really trying to compliment her? "Guess we have a lot to catch up on, then," she said. "How about after watching a movie later? I'll bring the snacks." Now for a wider smile from Sunstreaker. "Yeah, I'd like that."

* * *

Blades stared at Streetstar in disbelief. "So you set up a date with Sunstreaker?" The helico asked. There's a nod from the grounder femme. "Yes, and there's no way you're going to mess this up like you tried to do years ago." Smiling, Blades placed a servo on Streetstar's shoulderplating and said, "I wasn't going to. I know how important he is to you, just like how Slingshot is to me. Don't want an unhappy Streetstar." And there's the smile and hug from Streetstar, happy to know that her chances with the bot she's in love with won't be ruined by anything. Arms wrapped around the grounder femme.

* * *

Firaflight smiled as she joined Skyfire and Mirage, earning a kiss from both mechs. "Hi, you two," she said after Mirage pulled back. "Miss me?" Two nods at that. Nothing more could be said at the moment because a small voice started crying out, "Carri," and it sounded like they were actually crying. Speeding off, Firaflight found herself in the direction of the sparkling's room. Through the bond, she could tell the sparkling was scared. When she was at her destination, she found Cloudstar sitting in her crib and crying for her. Up goes the sparkling, into Firaflight's arms. "Shh, it's ok," Firaflight soothed, "Carri's here." Cloudstar rested her helm against Firaflight as the crying slowly stopped.

In the dark corner of the room, there stood a figure taller than the flier femme.

* * *

Slingshot smiled up at his mate. She was holding his servo and guiding him somewhere. If anybot had been paying attention to the visored mech, they'd see the loving look he was giving Blades. Of course, he hadn't been paying attention to where she'd been taking him. It wasn't until they were away from the city that Blades stopped and sat down, pulling him with her. "What are we doing here?" He asked. "We're gonna watch the stars," she replied. Oh, ok. Nothing wrong with that.

Blades rested her helm on Slingshot's shoulderplate as she looked up at the night sky. Orange optics widen under a visor and he looked at her. When she wrapped his arm around her, a smile crossed his faceplate and he looked at the sky, resting his helm on hers.

* * *

Streetstar had kept to her part of getting the snacks for the movie date. What she managed to get was rust sticks, oil cakes, energon goodies, oil chips, etc. She's definitely ready for this. All she needed was the mech. Speaking of, he was on the other side of the door when she opened it after having heard a knock. A smile crossed both their faceplates. "Hey," she greeted. "Hi," he replied. Sunstreaker was let in and the door shut behind him. "I didn't know what kind of snacks you liked, so I got what I could find," the femme informed. Which is a lot, by the looks of it.

* * *

 ** _"I feel like we should name the last one Coil, since he basically coils himself around a lot of things," Firaflight said._**


End file.
